While I was out of town in Anchorage for training, Holly called saying, “Matt, the sink in the bathroom fell off the wall and it smells really bad. What should I do?”

I asked, “What?”

She said, “The bathroom sink fell off the wall and is lying on the floor.”

I queried, “What, the sink fell OFF the wall? The bathroom sink?” How often does that happen? I thought.

“Yes, it fell off the wall and it smells really bad. It’s sitting on the floor. We’ve just been using the kitchen sink instead. What should I do?”

(Below is a picture I took of the bathroom when I got home from the trip. You can clearly see the spot on the wall where the sink broke off and you can imagine the smell coming up from the septic system since the ‘P’ trap was not in place. Perhaps you could also imagine how hard it was to keep John Caleb from playing with the water faucets, as they were still functional)

After a bit of discussion, and wondering who would want to fix the sink for us for free, we agreed that she should just pretend there had never been a sink in the bathroom for a couple days until I returned from Anchorage, Hopefully with a new sink. so I could install it myself.

At the right, is what I think may have happened to the sink. Actually, I don’t think Elisabet sat on the sink. But it’s a funny thought.

Jeremy, Jack and I went to Home Depot and I bought the smallest bathroom sink they had, that is, the one that sticks out the least from the wall and was the most narrow. Our bathroom is small and I wanted a bit more room to squeeze between the door and the sink when bathroom is occupied. I was able to share one of my three Alaska Airlines checkin bags with Jack and Jeremy and return from Anchorage with the sink ready to install with the base and a nice new faucet.

I wanted to get an even lower profile sink, say about 10-15″ as I’ve seen one in a magazine like that for really small spaces, but ended up just getting one that was convenient to purchase.

When I returned from the trip, I put in the new sink. Here’s what it looked like. I think this sink will last for many, many years, as it has a pedestal base that supports nearly all th weight and is much smaller.

I I also moved the sink over towards the toilet a few inches to get it away from the door. With the old sink, there were just a few inches of clearance whereas now it’s JUST possible to squeeze through the opening when the door if open and pointing at the sink.. Here’s the new faucet, which I really like a lot. The faucet spout is raised up a bunch from the base compared to the old one, which makes it easy for the boys to fill up the water glasses for dinner (we always drink water for dinner, as it’s the best beverage you can drink)..

Initially, when I installed the faucet, there was no room for the soap or the water cup, but I removed the set screws and re-set the handles at an angle to allow us to use the left-hand side for the soap and the right hand side for the water glass.

It was nice having a DIY home maintenance book on the shelf to read before fixing the sink too. Having very little actual experience fixing things around the home, I really like a good DIY book, like the ones sold at Home Depot.